Eleven Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Technically, no, as those aren't continuity things. Pushbullet is the only thing similar to Continuity, (I'm not sure if that handles answering calls on your tablet/mac/pc). But pushbullet is something you install on both your computer and phone. Anyway, Continuity does more than Pushbullet, but those other features are the power user ones, hence I didn't dwell and specified only the calls/text part, which is way easier to setup and use). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Listed on the features page for Continuity is: Shared web browsing. Chrome Sync has been a feature for years now across desktop & mobile Cloud documents: Yeah Google Docs is pretty much the forefront there. Answering texts n calls from tablet/PC, which yeah is a Pushbullet thing not built in. Mobile hotspots: Been a thing for Android from day 1. Pretty much the calls/texts thing is the only "not in the box" thing, and Pushbullet does waayyyy more than that (in fact it's a relatively newish feature, it was originally for doing small file sharing n notification sync. I know it got FB n Hangout support too last month too). It is ultimately a ecosystem choice. If you use Google Chrome and Google Drive and Google Hangouts and what not then Android is a good choice, and if you own an iMac and an iPad then iPhone makes sense there too. (Though to think on it housemate does have a Nexus 5, macbook and iPad. Quites like having Android for his phone, says an iPhone would be going way too down the rabbit hole. Same with our Graphic designer too (has an S4, no tablet yet, but rocks iMac cos stereotypes). For myself Google, being a web company, has the more platform agnostic ecosystem (to the point you can get Google Docs stuff on iOS, but not iWork on Android/Windows), so a bit easier in the long run. In fact not sure how Revans wife hasn't developed a preference at this point, surely she's used a friends phone/tablet at least once or twice over the past several years smartphones have been a thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Not really arguing, but since we're being specific here, just wanted to point out some things, because we aren't really giving continuity a fair shake. It's not just the features, it's how it's implemented and used. With ease of use being a thing to keep in mind. 1. Shared web browsing has been a thing in Safari too, pre-Yosemite. The new thing is being able to swipe up from your device and you're instantly there. Like, you're on your laptop browser, you stand up to make coffee, pick up your phone and swipe up. You're now on the page you were just browsing. No need to click to push a page. No need to go to a history page/some section of the mobile browser to pick the page you were just viewing. And it works the same the other way. Once you're back on your desk, click the icon on the leftmost of the dock and you're there. This is also basically how composing emails work in continuity. Gmail can do it as well as other web based emails, it saves the draft online after all, but there are fewer steps in continuity. It's just there at once. 2. I believe cloud documents were there pre-yosemite, too so I didn't think it was a continuity thing. Though GDocs is definitely better than iWork, but on this front, I'm on MS side with Word, etc. If only their services were as fast as Google's. 3. You can answer/reply on any device. I'm not sure if answering the call on another device other than the phone is a pushbullet thing (although you seemed to confirm it). One thing that Pushbullet did well I think is that it uses a Google sign-in, which reduces friction. It's easier to ask someone to adopt it since they don't need a new account. 4. Mobile hotspots are there pre-Yosemite too. The difference is, you don't even need it to be turned on your phone, or have it set up. Just pick the iPhone from the dropdown (which is there because of bluetooth), and it automatically turns on hotspot on your phone, and connects you, no need to enter a password either. In most of these things, there is far less friction on how iOS and OS X work together, compared to how Android and a Mac/PC does. Which, I think, does a lot in convincing disinterested users to use those features. It becomes so much easier convince someone to try them when you can tell them their computer already does these things, they just need to turn it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 See 1 is pretty much exactly how Pushbullet does. I guess yeah it means installing the app, though it does expand way beyond the browser (due to the whole Intents thing built into Android it ties in with pretty much app now able to "push" things to PC). Like for any Android user reading this thread I cannot emphasis how useful you will find Pushbullet, and it's super free. 4 is kinda swish, though honestly it's a pretty rare thing to need (I guess if you're in bumfuck nowhere, but bumfuck nowhere likely has no 3G either, never mind lacking wifi). Depending on your phone make (I'm on Samsung) it can be a swipe away to turn on the hotspot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 All of this does depend on your existing ecosystem of choice. If you have iDevices all over the place, then carry on. If you have a variety of devices, or mostly google devices. Go Android. Each have their benefits and drawbacks for the 10% who use the more advanced features. But for the average Joe, email, twitter, facebook, candy crush, maps etc. are all pretty much the same across the two. So stick to the ecosystem you are in, or pick one now and stick with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 My phone could do mobile hotspots, but in the US many carriers block them unless you pay an extra fee. @Dean: Can Pushbullet actually answer calls, or just notify you about them? I know you can send texts from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Their site says it can do calls. I'll be honest I've never tried since I neither have my PC set up for that (I honestly wouldn't know at this point if my mic works I've not used it in so long), and also calls get routed to my watch by default which I think would override anything else at a system level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 It says you can see the calls, but I think that just means it pops up a notification that you are receiving a call, but doesn't actually let you take the call on the computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I did a quick look, you can answer it but you need a bluetooth headset connected to your phone. Technically, you just answer your phone. It doesn't route the call to your computer. Yet. I read on another article that they're working on that. I wonder what it'll use to move the call though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Okay, so you can hit "answer", but it just tells your phone to answer it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 There's the answer then. If it's something they're working on, given the explosion of features it won't surprise me if it'll pop out any month soon. As for "move the call" you mean "how they'll answer it on PC/tablet", it'll likely only send it when you're on wi-fi (which I imagine will be the general scenario of both being on a wi-fi network while you're on your PC and phone in a back-pack or whatever). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 On 3/9/2015 at 2:57 PM, deanb said: There's the answer then. If it's something they're working on, given the explosion of features it won't surprise me if it'll pop out any month soon. As for "move the call" you mean "how they'll answer it on PC/tablet", it'll likely only send it when you're on wi-fi (which I imagine will be the general scenario of both being on a wi-fi network while you're on your PC and phone in a back-pack or whatever). I can't imagine it's easy to get right. There's a lot of elements at play here. Plus, if Mighty Text haven't done it even with paid features, I don't see Pushbullet doing it. MightyText is far ahead of PushBullet for actual phone features but then again PB seems to have an incredibly talented team over there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 On 3/9/2015 at 2:57 PM, deanb said: As for "move the call" you mean "how they'll answer it on PC/tablet", it'll likely only send it when you're on wi-fi (which I imagine will be the general scenario of both being on a wi-fi network while you're on your PC and phone in a back-pack or whatever). Yeah. But to be specific, I was wondering how they were going to hack their way around it. Messages and notifications are stored on the phone, so they don't need to intercept anything, just be able to read them. Essentially I guess they'd have to do something to hijack your call and route it through your wifi or bluetooth connection. And then which app they're going to use to answer your call on the PC, so they'd have to add call features to the pushbullet app. Something like that. And if they implement it, I guess some apps could follow and do something like transfer call to Viber, so you could now answer calls to your phone on the Viber desktop app, even if it's not a Viber call. I guess I would be curious too about how Apple did it, but they hold the code for everything so I assume they could easily just send whatever you get on your cellular to your wifi/bluetooth connection by adding code to their Phone app. From what I understand, Android is open source, but it's not like the Pushbullet team could easily modify how phone calls work on it. I vaguely recall being able to use different "phone" apps on android but I'm not sure if that's just a dialer thing (or if that's even a thing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted March 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 I've just been looking at pushbullet. What's the difference between the windows app and the chrome extension? It says you need both installed but it seems they duplicate a lot of the same things? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 I just use the Chrome app, iirc the main bonus of the Windows app being: Not needing Chrome, and it does the file sharing natively rather than through the button on Chrome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 Yeah, the Windows app is in beta at the moment, but I think it's mainly a replacement for the Chrome app. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Quote I vaguely recall being able to use different "phone" apps on android but I'm not sure if that's just a dialer thing (or if that's even a thing). Just a dialer. It still uses the phone functionality unless it's explicitly another service like Skype, Vonage, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted September 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2015 I'm using whatsapp on my android phone, and it connects to whatsapp web on my laptop with no problems. I'm struggling with my ipad though. The whatsapp web app doesn't work in safari, nor chrome - it just suggests I download the app, but that works only on iphone, not ipad. I can't find anything on google except connecting the iphone app to a laptop, which isn't the problem I'm having or installing whatsapp on an ipad, which would be good except it doesn't seem to actually work with iOS 8 and is rather dodgy. Anyone got any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted September 4, 2015 Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 Why not just use the iPhone app on your iPad? It might look ugly as fuck when it's stretched but it should still work. There's a setting to view both phone + tablet apps in the app store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted September 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) When I search whatsapp and choose iphone only it just comes up with a load of junk apps not the actual one, and when I click a direct link from the whatsapp site it takes me to the store but says it's iphone only and I can't see anything there to show the app, The googled solutions involve owning an iphone and accessing older cached versions of the app so I don't think there is an easy solution to it. Edited September 4, 2015 by TheFlyingGerbil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 I believe not all iPhone app shows on the iPad even if you say "iPhone" on the iPad's app store. Probably has to do with the developer allowing app downloads on iPad for iPhone only apps. I've come across some apps like that. Whatsapp makes sense as you need a phone number. Theoretically you can put any phone number in there, but they probably just didn't want to support iPads at all to make things easier for them. For Whatsapp web, don't you need a matching phone anyway? Like, it's somehow still tethered to your phone but there's a web interface (like how Messages work with a Mac and an iPhone, or Pushbullet)? I believe that's why initially web was for Android only, with the app limitations on iPhones and all. Maybe try a browser you can switch the (i forgot what it's actually called) browser string thing, so it says it's Firefox or something instead of Safari on iPad. Mercury browser, maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 b-b-b-but whatsapp was easy they said! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Does anyone here have problems staying connected to WiFi on android (5.1)? Seems after googling it there are a lot of people saying they have the problem and lots of articles telling you to wait for Google to fix it or giving rubbish generic solutions like restarting your router. Anyone found any solutions that actually work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Yes I do have the issue, but no good solution. I just turn WiFi off and back on on my phone, and if that doesn't work I reboot my router. Honestly I doubt Google will fix it in 5.1 since 6 is being rolled out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Doesn't it drive you insane? I suppose it may be more annoying for me with my non-existent mobile network reception. Sounds like there may be little point sending my phone back as it won't be something they could fix or even replace the phone for. Why's technology so universally disappointing. Connecting to WiFi is something even my 3ds can manage so why is it too much for Google to work out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.